Notes on the Life of St Malachy
St Malachy, born in Armagh in 1094, was greatly influenced by his teacher in the faith, Imhar O’Hagan, Abbot of Armagh, who was sympathetic to the reform and renewal of the Irish church as it moved from a monastic model to the more Roman diocesan model.
St Malachy was ordained in 1119 and began a ministry of renewal of the local church in Armagh with the introduction of the custom and practices of the universal church, including steps to better regulate the administration of the sacraments of Confession and Confirmation. He also introduced clearer contractual rights governing marriage.
In 1124, Malachy became Abbot of Bangor and, with the implementation of the canons of the Synod of Rathbreasail (1111), which marked the transition of the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish-based church, he was ordained Bishop Connor and Bishop of Down, then separate dioceses. In 1132 Malachy was appointed to the See of Armagh.
St Malachy’s influence in Irish ecclesiastical affairs has been compared with that of St Boniface in Germany. During three years at Armagh, as St Bernard of Clairvaux writes, Malachy restored the discipline of the church, grown lax during the rule of a series of lay-abbots, and had the Roman Liturgy adopted. He was also known for his care to the needy as a miracle worker and healer. In his lifetime, it is said that he planted apple trees throughout Ireland during a time of famine.
In 1136-7 Malachy resigned the See of Armagh and Connor but remained Bishop of Down until his death in 1148[1]. In 1139 he journeyed to Rome to obtain the Pallium for the Archbishoprics of Armagh and Cashel. On his return home, via the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux, he brought with him several Cistercian monks and with them he established the Cistercian Order at Mellifont in 1142. Malachy set out on a second journey to Rome in 1148, but on arriving at Clairvaux, he fell sick and died in the arms of his friend St Bernard, on 2 November 1148.
Malachy’s body was initially interred at Clairvaux and eventually placed near the tomb of St Bernard. His tomb was moved several times during the rebuilding of the monastery church of Clairvaux but in 1194 relics of the saint were gifted to the Cistercian monastery of Mellifont. At some point other relics of St Malachy were placed in several highly decorated reliquaries at Clairvaux. These were destroyed during the French revolution, but the relics were preserved. St Malachy’s skull is now preserved in the Cathedral of Troyes, not far from Clairvaux. The tombs of St Malachy and St Bernard were destroyed in the French revolution resulting in the comingling of their remains and their distribution as relics to various churches near Clairvaux. A relic of St Malachy’s skull, presented by the late Cardinal Tomás Ó’Fiaich, Archbishop of Armagh, is preserved in St Malachy’s College Chapel, Belfast, in a specially designed reliquary.
The Church, ever faithful to the Gospel, has embraced renewal and reform in various ways and at various times. We have never been at a fixed point on the pilgrimage of faith and God continues to reveal His will through our openness to prayerfully discern what he saying to us for today and tomorrow as He did in the past.
As the universal Church continues to discern the will of the Holy Spirit and as our local Church of Down and Connor discerns ways to support and advance the mission of the Church, we pray for the intercession of St Malachy that we may be guided by the Holy Spirit in all that we undertake.
[1] The Diocese of Down and the Diocese of Connor were permanently untied as one diocese in 1439.